


Inconveniently a mermaid

by ChopinWorshipper



Category: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
Genre: And he needs help, M/M, because they really like angst, for moon-hedgehog, hyde is suddenly a mermaid, magical help is employed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-23 02:56:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21313030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChopinWorshipper/pseuds/ChopinWorshipper
Summary: Utterson didn't know what he was looking at, but he didn't like it.
Relationships: Edward Hyde/Dr. Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde/Gabriel John Utterson, Henry Jekyll/Gabriel John Utterson
Comments: 8
Kudos: 36





	Inconveniently a mermaid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moon_hedgehog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moon_hedgehog/gifts).

Gabriel John Utterson was just done with his work, when he heard his telephone ring from the other room. Odd. Who would call him at this hour?

He went to answer the call. “Hello?”

“Good evening, Mr. Utterson. Pardon me for the late intrusion.”

“Poole! Good evening? What's the matter?”

“You have to come immediately. It's an emergency. Something happened to Master Hyde and I don't know what to do.”

“I'll be there in ten minutes at most.”

“What's going on?”, Utterson demanded to know immediately after arriving at Jekyll's villa.

“Follow me, Sir”, Poole replied and lead him through the house. “I called Her Ladyship and Dr. Lanyon as well”, the butler told him on the way, “They too will be here soon.”

Utterson nodded in acknowledgement, before impatiently asking: “Now, what happened?”

Poole stopped in front of the bathroom door and sighed: “See for yourself, Sir. But I must warn you, the sight will be shocking.”

With that he opened the door.

The lawyer's eyes immediately fell onto the bathtub. What he saw was shocking indeed.

“What the-?”

Utterson had no idea what he was looking at, but he didn't like it.

Judging by the long, café noir brown hair, it had to be Hyde. But Hyde was … a _mermaid_? Why the hell was he suddenly a mermaid?!

Mermaid-Hyde was staring at him with tortured, frightened eyes. His fishtail was way too big for the bathtub and he was rattling for air.

“Help me …”

Yes, that definitely was his voice, albeit slightly distorted.

Utterson frowned at him. “What happened to you?!”

“I … don't know”, Hyde wheezed, “But … it hurts … I can't … breathe … help … make it … stop!”

The lawyer turned to Poole. “Do you know a body of water that isn't as dirty as the Thames?”

Before the butler could answer, hurried steps resounded from the hallway and Lanyon burst in, Lady Summers on his heels.

But when they saw it, they stopped dead in their tracks.

“_Ach du grüne Neune_!”, Lady Summers gasped.

“Mr. Hyde, is that you?”, asked Lanyon incredulously.

Hyde nodded weakly. If he hadn't been in such agony, he'd probably have given a snappy retort.

All at once several servants rushed into the room with buckets of water and changed the water in the tub. In the fresh water, Hyde relaxed and submerged as much of himself as he could.

The other three and Poole stepped closer.

Now that they had full view, Utterson could see that Hyde's body was a fishtail from the waist down. His belly was white, the rest of him a greyish green. His skin was covered by a relief of dark green, meandering lines and speckles. There were a lot of fins on his back and sides, even his ears now looked like fins (and moved like it too). His tail was very long, muscular and big. On his sides, Utterson could see several pairs of gills that pushed out waste water with Hyde's every breath.

He sighed sadly and caressed the wet brown hair of his unfortunate lover.

Hyde lifted his head and looked up to him unhappily. His eyes were now completely black, safe from the pupils that were of the shrill acid green his irises usually were. The poor brunette choked back a sob and leaned into the tender touch for a moment. Then he submerged the lower half of his face again.

“He can't breathe air anymore”, the lawyer told the other two. “We have to do something. He needs to be brought to a close-by body of water, before he suffocates or dries out.”

“Obviously”, Lady Summers agreed, “How about the Thames?”

“The Thames is too dirty”, Lanyon objected, “That would be like standing in a cloud full of toxic smoke. He would die from all the rubbish and manure.”

“True, but we need to find him a reliable source of fresh water that's rich enough in oxygen. And of course, big and deep enough for him to hide – no pun intended.”

Hyde wound himself in the bathtub, making the water splash. When he gripped the edges of the bathtub, the other three could see the lappets between his fingers.

Carefully, the black-haired lawyer touched one of these web hands. It twitched at the contact, but the brunette seemed to relax considerably.

The skin under his hand felt a bit smoother and more taut than human skin.

_My dear Edward, my poor sweetheart …_

“Mister Hyde”, Lanyon spoke up again, “Do you or Jekyll have any ideas?”

The mermaid– no, mer_man_ paused for a moment, before lifting his head out of the water again.

“He says … the Serpentine … would be good … for now”, he gurgled. Then added pleadingly: “Help us … please … I'm dying …”

Then he slouched back in.

Lanyon frowned. “The Serpentine isn't deep enough.”

“No, but it's big”, Lady Summers argued, “He could move far enough from the shore for no one to notice his movement in the water.”

Utterson turned to the others. “Whatever, we need to get him there as quickly as possible.”

“But we can't transport him per coach. He'll be dead ere we've made it there”, Lanyon pointed out.

A high-pitched, frightened whimper came from the bathtub and the lawyer went back to stroking the brunette's hand.

Suddenly, Lady Summers clapped her hands. “I have an idea! All we need is-”

Like on cue, her butler Sameer Singh walked in. “You told me to come here, after my chores were done?”, he inquired.

Lady Summers nodded. “We have a serious problem here”, she told him and pointed to the tub.

The Indian stopped short, but recovered almost instantly.

The Lady looked at him expectantly. Then she said something in Hindustani, probably briefing him on the situation. The young butler understood and stepped up to the bathtub. Then he proceeded to baffle almost everyone by effortlessly lifting Hyde out of the tub.

“Didn't this house have a balcony on the roof?”, he asked.

“Yes”, Hyde choked. “Big one …”

All of the sudden, Poole piped up: “One moment, please!”

Then the elderly butler wrapped his master's alter ego into a dropping wet blanket.

“Better?”

Hyde smiled gratefully and nodded.

Utterson sighed: “Up to the roof then?”

So up to the balcony they went.

But in the door, the lawyer hesitated. He didn't want to go out there. It was so awfully high. But he knew what was about to go down and he needed to be there, for-

He pulled himself together and followed onto the balcony. He came just in time to see the Indian butler lift off from the ground.

_Oh right … he can fly … _

Hyde shrieked in fear and clung to the … uh, whatever the butler was. A demon or something, Lady Summers had once mentioned.

He turned to them for a last time.

“You get him there as quickly as possible”, Lady Summers ordered, “We'll follow after with the coach. Bring him to that small bridge that separates Hyde Park and Kensington Garden. We'll meet you there.”

The Indian nodded, then he took off with insane speed.

Utterson prayed desperately that the wind wouldn't harm his beloved at the speed the butler was carrying him through the air with.

“Come”, Lanyon spoke up, “We need to hurry.”

The other three dashed out of the house, where Her Ladyship's coach was waiting, then drove off.

Once arrived at the bridge, they joined the butler, who was waiting for them.

But of course he was standing on the bridge alone and it was too dark for them to see anything in the water.

“Where is Hyde?”, Utterson asked anxiously.

“Mr. Hyde is swimming around right under the bridge”, Mr. Singh told him, “He's feeling much better now that he has a bigger bathtub.”

The lawyer would have laughed at the word 'bathtub' being applied to such a big pond, but he was too nervous.

_Damn, I can't see anything!_

Lanyon turned to the butler. “There are still people in the park. How did you manage to get him there without anyone noticing?”

The butler shrugged. “Rakshasa magic. I cast an illusion. They just saw a seagull carrying a fish.”

The hoary doctor sighed. “I refuse to think further about it.”

“Good decision”, Singh replied drily.

Utterson didn't listen any further. He bent over the railing and cried out: “Edward? Can you hear me?”

“Not so loud!”, Lady Summers hissed and pointed at a group of men, who were walking along the strand. “It's still over an hour until the park closes!”

“Good grief. I'm casting another illusion”, Mr. Singh sighed and snapped his fingers.

His mistress bent over the railing as well and stared into the water.

She must have sent out a telepathic call, because Hyde popped his head out of the water in almost an instant.

“How are you feeling, Mr. Hyde?”, she inquired worriedly.

“Better”, he rasped. “Jekyll too.”

“That's good”, Lady Summers breathed in relief.

Hyde dived under again, only to startle them all by leaping up and holding onto the railing.

Utterson immediately cupped that greenish face and kissed the cold, wet lips.

Hyde kissed back and allowed the lawyer's hands to caress his cheeks, before letting go and sinking back into the water.

When his face came out again, he reached up and Utterson took his webbed hand.

He looked so incredibly unhappy with the entire situation, that the lawyer's heart shattered into a million pieces.

“We'll find a way to undo this, Edward”, he told the brunette softly. “We'll turn you and Henry human again and then you can go back to doing the things you love. I promise.”


End file.
